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  "url": "http://www.ericsink.com/entries/Save_Windows_XP.html",
  "title": "Windows XP and the importance of listening to customers",
  "note": "On June 30, Microsoft will discontinue Windows XP in an\neffort to force all PC users onto Windows Vista. As this date gets closer and\ncloser, they have stubbornly insisted that they will not change their plans.\n\n\nLast week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer blinked,\nbut in a rather confusing way:\n\n\n\n The sensible part: Ballmer claimed that they might\n     reconsider their decision if that's what customers wanted.\n     \n \n The confusing part: Ballmer appeared to be completely\n     ignorant of the multitudes of people publicly begging for XP to get a stay\n     of execution.\n\n\nJust want kind of customer feedback would Ballmer be able to\nhear?\n\n\nIt's really not that hard to find overwhelming evidence of\nlarge numbers of people who want to continue using XP. A simple Google search\nfor the string \"save\nwindows XP\" results in over 200 thousand hits.\n\n\nOh yeah, I forgot -- Steve probably doesn't use Google. Maybe\nthe problem is that he just can't find any XP fans on the Internets? :-)\n\n\nOr maybe Ballmer is following the now fashionable trend of\ncounting an Internet person as only 3/5 of a real person?\n\n\n\n Sure, Ron Paul has lots of fanatical supporters, but they're\n     mostly just people on the Internet, and they don't really count.\n     \n \n Sure, Barack Obama has raised truckloads of money, but he\n     mostly gets it from people on the Internet, and they don't really count.\n     \n \n Sure, over 170 thousand people have signed the Save Windows XP petition,\n     but those people are on the Internet, so they don't really count.\n\n\nOr maybe this is simply the most arrogant corporate decision\nin history? Maybe Steve can hear all of these desperate cries but he simply\ndoesn't care.\n\n\nPower corrupts. Every monstrously large organization\neventually turns into, well, a monster. The next step is for all these\norganizations to start borrowing each other's tactics. Hey Steve, why not\nstart waterboarding everybody who won't switch to Windows Vista? Apparently\nit's legal. :-)\n\n\nThe whole situation is most annoying to those of us who are\nrunning small software companies. Unlike Microsoft, we actually have to listen\nto our customers. When they tell us to jump, we ask how high.\n\n\nMicrosoft is telling millions of its customers to jump. Out\nof principle, I am doing my best not to comply:\n\n\n\n I'm typing this blog entry on Windows XP.\n     \n \n That instance of Windows XP is actually a VMware image\n     running on my Mac. I started using a MacBook Pro with Leopard a couple\n     months ago. And I love it.\n     \n \n I just donated fifty bucks to the ReactOS project. I'm figuring that in\n     the long run, I've got a better chance of getting Windows XP from ReactOS\n     than from Redmond.\n\n\nSome of my readers are horrified at this blog entry. \"But\nEric, aren't you a .NET developer?\"\n\n\nYes, I am. My overall posture toward Microsoft is still\nfriendly. I still use Windows every day. I still love Visual Studio. C# is\nstill my favorite language ever. Heck, I'm even a big WPF fan, so I'd actually\nprefer to see the world switch to Vista. I've used Vista, and while I didn't\nfind it to be a compelling \"must-have\" upgrade, I rather liked it.\n\n\nBut none of this means that I'm going to give my blanket\nagreement to every decision Microsoft makes. In this case, I object to\nMicrosoft's plan, not because Vista is so awful, but rather, because ignoring\ncustomers is so wrong.",
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